HC Deb 20 November 2001 vol 375 cc236-9W
Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the quality of(a) care and (b) treatment being offered to (i) mentally and (ii) personality disordered prisoners held in young offender institutions; and if he will make a statement. [16342]

Beverley Hughes

Prison Service establishments, including young offender institutions, and the health authorities in which they are situated, have been jointly assessing prisoners' health needs, including their mental health needs, and identifying appropriate services to meet them and effective means of delivery. This process, which had been very largely completed by the end of March 2001, was designed to lead to improvements in service provision, through the implementation of individual prison health plans, commencing from April 2001.

The Department of Health's National Service Framework for Mental Health (1999) and the National Health Service (NHS) Plan (2000) make provision for improving mental health services to prisoners, in particular the development of community mental health teams working in prisons. Delivery of these commitments will require prisons and their local health partners to conduct specific mental health needs assessments and identify the services that will need to be put in place to meet any deficits.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets he has set for mandatory drug testing at each young offender institution. [16343]

Beverley Hughes

The random mandatory drug testing targets for each male young offender institution and juvenile establishment are listed in the table.

Percentage
Establishment Mandatory drug testing target
Ashfield
Aylesbury 12
Brinsford 19
Castington 13
Deerbolt 7.5
Dover 12.1
Feltham 22
Glen Parva 15

Numbers of suicides in young offender institutions by financial year
Establishment 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–021 Total
Aylesbury 1 1 3 2 7
Brinsford 1 4 2 1 8
Castington 2 2
Dover 1 1
Feltham 1 2 1 1 5
Glen Parva 3 2 1 2 8
Hindley 2 1 1 1 5
Northallerton 1 1 2
Onley 1 1
Portland 1 1 1 3
Reading 2 1 1 4
Stoke Heath 1 1
Swiffen Hall 3 3
Wetherby 1 1 1 3
Total 12 7 7 13 10 4 53
1 To date

Numbers of self harm incidents in young offenders institutions by financial year
Establishment 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–021 Total
Ashfield 20 156 77 253
Aylesbury 4 121 84 5 214
Brinsford 37 43 43 14 139
Castington 34 67 89 46 238
Deerbolt 4 3 11 1 20
Dover 4 2 1 7
Feltham 64 30 38 13 145
Glen Parva 56 67 78 24 233
Hatfield 2 1 1 4
Hindley 12 7 3 5 27
Huntercombe 2 5 8 3 19
Lancaster Farms 29 26 20 9 87
Northallerton 25 27 43 14 111
Onley 5 24 29

Percentage
Establishment Mandatory drug testing target
Hatfield 10.5
Hindley 14
Huntercombe 14
Lancaster Farms 6
Northallerton 12
Onley 5
Portland 8.5
Reading 18.5
Stoke Heath 8
Swinfen Hall 7.5
Thorn Cross 15
Werrington 10
Wetherby 8

Ashfield young offender institution is a private sector establishment. Financial penalties are incurred for each guilty adjudication following a positive random mandatory drug test.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) suicides and (b) incidents of self-harm have taken place at each young offender institution in (a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000, (e) 2000–01 and (f) 2001–02 to date. [16341]

Beverley Hughes

The available figures for each male young offender institution and juvenile establishment are listed in the tables. I regret that figures on self-harm are not available for the financial years 1996–97 and 1997–98 as data were not recorded centrally until January 1998.

Numbers of self harm incidents in young offenders institutions by financial year
Establishment 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–021 Total
Portland 7 15 29 13 65
Reading 36 12 2 13 71
Stoke Heath 23 12 19 11 72
Swiffen Hall 9 7 12 4 32
Thorn Cross 0 0 0 0 0
Werrington 5 2 2 17
Wetherby 3 3 10 9 25
Total 356 470 653 286 1,808
1 To date